Viral infections remain among the most formidable causes of human and non-human animal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Effective preventions or therapies against most viral pathogens remain elusive. One of the most contemporary and catastrophic examples is the still rapidly expanding and pervasive worldwide pandemic of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Despite more than two decades of research to find effective preventative or therapeutic vaccines or drugs, surprisingly little progress has been made. The need for new effective preventative and therapeutic agents for HIV/AIDS and other potentially lethal viral diseases remains an urgent global priority.
Peptidic molecules offer tremendous structural diversity that can be exploited for development of novel therapeutics and preventions of many different kinds of diseases. For example, in the field of HIV therapeutics a novel, rationally-constructed peptide molecule known as T-20 (Kilby, Nat. Med., 4: 1302-1307 (1998)) has been recently shown to be a potent inhibitor of HIV/cell fusion. Furthermore, naturally occurring, non-mammalian peptides and proteins offer new avenues for antiviral discovery and development. An outstanding example is the remarkable HIV-inactivating protein cyanovirin-N (Boyd et al., Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 41: 1521-1530 (1997)). Additionally, International Published Application WO 03/097814 (Boyd et al.) and Bokesch et al. (Biochem., 42: 2578-2584 (2003)) disclose the discovery of antiviral scytovirin. Clearly, there is great untapped potential for discovery and development of novel, polypeptides and proteins that can be used in prevention and therapeutics of viral diseases.
The present invention provides new antiviral polypeptides and proteins, fusion proteins, and conjugates, as well as nucleic acids, vectors, host cells, and related compositions and methods of use thereof to inhibit viral infections. These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention, as well as additional inventive features, will become apparent from the description provided herein.